Employment Visas
Brelje and Associates PLC specializes in obtaining employment visas of all types. These include H-1B status for professionals under the "specialty occupation" category; L-1 intracompany transferee status for companies with parent, subsidiary or affiliate organizations abroad; TN status for nationals of Canada and Mexico under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA); PERM labor certification for permanent residency for employees; H-2B visas for skilled or semi-skilled "essential workers"; O-1 visas for foreign nationals with "outstanding ability"; and P-1 visas for professional athletes. The firm also counsels employers and employees with regard to B-1 business visitor visas and entry on the visa waiver program.
Typical professional occupational classifications include managers and executives, physicians, software engineers, programmer analysts, aerospace engineers, systems analysts, electrical and structural engineers, accountants, lawyers, teachers and architects. Various construction and other trades, technical, service and hospitality positions can be included in either H-2B status, or in some cases, TN status. Some may also qualify for PERM labor certification for permanent residency.
I-9 Compliance
Brelje and Associates PLC provides employers with I-9 work authorization verification compliance counseling. The firm provides training tailored to our employer clients' corporate structure and needs. I-9 trainings are often presented to a client's HR staff and include protocols for proper I-9 form completion, tips for handling difficult or unusual work authorization documentation, recommended procedures for storing I-9 documentation, systems for alerting employees of status expiration and "tickling" I-9 forms that require reverification.
The firm also offers informal audits of an employer's I-9 forms, with the option of reviewing a representative sample of I-9s to detect patterns of non-compliance and training issues. Brelje and Associates represents employers who have been served with DHS subpoenas and are being audited by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agents. The firm also represents employers in the administrative court process in the event an ICE audit evolves into litigation.
State Immigration Laws
Perceiving that the federal government has failed to adequately address the country’s immigration issues, a number of states are proposing their own immigration legislation. Several states including Arizona, Colorado and Oklahoma have already passed laws that sanction employers for immigration law violations. Our firm tracks state immigration laws and monitors the progress of state immigration bills that have a chance of becoming law. We provide our employer clients who do business in one of the effected states or who do business in a number of states, analysis of the various state immigration laws that can have an impact on their business operations.
Immigration Reform
Brelje and Associates PLC is closely monitoring the various immigration reform bills and legislative proposals sometimes referred to as Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR). The firm sends periodic updates to employers who may benefit from CIR or who want to make sure they are in compliance with new enforcement legislation. One possible component of CIR is a "legalization" program for individuals who are currently in the US without proper immigration status. Brelje and Associates PLC has developed a protocol for providing educational sessions in English and Spanish for a client's employees that will provide information as to who will qualify for legalization; when applications will be accepted; and a specialized software program used to collect pertinent information, complete the required forms and track the progress of the legalization process.
In addition to legalization, some CIR proposals include an enhanced "guestworker" program. One Senate proposal would make 200,000 such visas available per year to skilled and unskilled workers, following the completion of certain border enforcement measures. A new guestworker program would not be as restrictive as the H-2A agricultural program and the H-2B essential worker program. Moreover, the numbers of available visas per year is projected to be much higher than the current limits on H-2A and H-2B. Brelje and Associates PLC is closely monitoring these guestworker provisions as well, and sends periodic updates to interested employers.
